Flu Season
by PicnicFanficnicAardvark
Summary: With two of the team off work with the Flu, and the other two stranded, freezing, in the middle of nowhere, luck is running low for Team Gibbs. And for one of them, time is running out.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own NCIS or any of it's characters.****  
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><p><strong><span>Chapter 1<span>**

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs peered over his computer screen at the empty chairs in the Squad-room, with the arrival of Flu season he was missing two of his Team Members, Special Agent Timothy McGee and Officer Ziva David. The Bullpen was quiet other than the occasional frustrated groan coming from his Senior Field Agent, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, who was taking on a 'McGeek' type task at his computer. The Team Leader was a lot snappier than usual, everything seemed to be taking twice as long and for a man who wanted instant results it was proving to be an annoyance. A sudden loud cough from Tony had Gibbs locking eye's with his Agent as though daring him to catch the Flu like McGee and Ziva had.

"It's just a cough Boss," Tony said defensively, "I'm fine, really."

It would have been more believable to Gibbs if that wasn't the first time Tony had spoken in the past hour. "You catch the Flu and you're fired DiNozzo." He threatened, although he obviously didn't mean it, in fact Gibbs would be keeping a casual eye on his Agent, the Flu was something Tony needed to be wary of since his lungs were scarred from when he'd contracted the Pneumonic Plague.

The lack of retort from the Special Agent also didn't seem to be a very good sign, with a sigh Gibbs stood up and walked around in front of Tony's desk, "What's taking you so long, McGee would have had this done by now."

Tony looked up at Gibbs, obviously feeling somewhat peeved, "Yeah, well I'm doing the best I can." His face then took on a slightly lighter expression, "Anyway I'm almost done...I think." He rubbed his temples before typing some more.

"When you're done you can go home DiNozzo."

"Home?" Tony looked up again at Gibbs who was walking back to his desk, "But it's only 4." He started to type again, "Oh come on!" Tony called out, slamming his palms on the keyboard when his computer refused to do what he wanted it to do.

"It won't be by the time you've done that." Gibbs said as he sat down on his chair. Tony was about to reply when he started to cough again, noticing the look of pain on his Senior Field Agents face Gibbs added, "DiNozzo go home before you punch a hole through that thing."

If it hadn't been for his increasing headache Tony might have chosen to stay a little longer but instead he packed away his stuff and slipped his Backpack over his shoulder, "See you tomorrow Boss."

"Uhuh."

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><p>The sound of the Elevator doors opening was muffled by a loud sneeze, Gibbs looked up from his desk to see Tony shuffling towards the Bullpen, "I hate Colds." he mumbled, dropping his Backpack and slouching into his seat.<p>

Gibbs was a little surprised to see Tony, after the day before he didn't think he would bother coming into work. After listening to his Agent cough, sneeze and moan all morning he wondered why he'd bothered coming into work, "You sure that's just a Cold DiNozzo?"

Before Tony had a chance to answer Gibbs' phone rang, it was his Forensic Scientist, Abby Scuito phoning to tell him she'd had a break in the case and also demanding to know why he wasn't down in her Lab. Gibbs had a way of 'turning up' straight after or just before she had a lead. Gibbs put the phone down and stood up, looking over at Tony.

"Abby's got something?" It was more of a statement than a question as he followed Gibbs to the Elevator.

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><p>The Elevator dinged and the doors opened, Gibbs walked out, "DiNozzo if you feel so bad you should have stayed at home."<p>

"It's just a Cold Boss." Tony replied, walking out after him.

"Yesterday it was just a cough."

"Oh yesterday, when things were so much simpler." Tony said poetically before following Gibbs into Abby's Lab.

A Petty Officer had been killed and tied to a Billboard. Dr Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, Gibbs' Medical Examiner had found 3 bullet wounds, two to the victims chest and one to his head along with blunt force trauma to his skull. After performing the Autopsy the ME concluded that the Petty Officer had been killed after being struck on the back of the head with a blunt object. This later turned out to be a a frying pan, which McGee found stuffed in a dumpster, and Ducky also determined that the bullets had been fired Post Mortem.

Tiny pieces of wood were found in the victims hair which Abby had been running tests on to find out what tree it had come from, this was the reason why she had called them down into her Lab, not only had she found out the name of the tree it had come from, she had also found the whereabouts of that particular tree, in a small secluded town, just outside of Washington, which is exactly where Gibbs and Tony headed to, no sooner had she told them.

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><p>The only road leading to the small town was blocked off because of roadworks, forcing the Agents to travel off-road. Gibbs could feel his gut churning and it wasn't the grease-filled Cheeseburger Tony had bought him for lunch, something just didn't 'feel' right.<p>

"Boss, are you sure there's no other roads we could have taken? Because driving off-road, on ice, isn't seeming like a great idea." Gibbs looked at him disapprovingly, "I'm just saying..."

Gibbs struggled again to keep control of the vehicle as they drove over more ice, he was about to ban Tony from saying anything else when a Jeep came out of what seemed like nowhere and rammed into the side of their car, sending it spinning out of control on the ice and hurtling into a ditch.

Tony blinked a few times before managing to get out of the car and chasing after them, somewhat unsteadily on his feet. Gibbs heard the sounds of shots as he struggled to free himself from his side of the car and hoped they were coming from Tony's gun. He scrambled from the car and out of the ditch to see Tony running after the Jeep.

Tony chased after the Jeep, firing at it as he ran. As the vehicle got further away he was forced to admit defeat, almost falling on the ice as he tried to skid to a halt. He turned back to Gibbs who was picking himself up off the floor, "Are you OK Boss?"

"Well, no DiNozzo, our Badguys are escaping and our only way of catching them is lying down there in that ditch!" He pointed to the mess that was his car, it was obvious they weren't going anywhere in it.

Tony lifted his Cellphone into the air, "I'm not getting a signal Boss, how about you?"

"Nothing." Gibbs answered, "We should head back."

"OK, well it looks like we're on foot from here." Tony started to walk away from the crash site.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted to him, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Right, sorry." Tony walked back to Gibbs, "Everything just kinda looks the same."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and the two men made their way back.

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><p>Gibbs walked slowly behind Tony, listening as his Agents cough got worse, "Do you want to rest for a while DiNozzo?"<p>

"No, I'm fine." He managed.

"You don't sound fine." Gibbs leant his back against a tree trunk.

Tony sat down against a tree opposite, shaking from the cold, every breath he took burned from the icy air, "I should have stayed at home today." He complained, then sneezed loudly, "If I get the Flu I'm gonna kill McGee."

Gibbs tried his Cellphone again, there was still nothing and they hadn't been gone long enough for anyone to miss them. It was hard to tell how far they had drove into the middle of nowhere and the ice, along with their various aches and pains from the crash was slowing them down.

"DiNozzo, what are you doing?"

Tony opened his eye's, "Nothing, I was just resting my eyes." He replied somewhat sluggishly.

Gibbs pushed himself away from the tree, "Get up DiNozzo, we need to keep walking."

Tony groaned as his body protested to the movement of him getting to his feet, he pulled up his jacket collar and rubbed his palms together in a bid to make at least one part of his body warm, he felt thoroughly miserable, sighing as hard as the cold air would allow as he walked ahead of Gibbs.

"We're in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle, no signal while Ziva and McGee are at home, feeling sorry for themselves, and I'm not even sure we're going in the right direction. It was like an ambush, but how could they have known we were coming?" Tony turned around to see Gibbs lying motionless on the ground, "Boss!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A fire burned besides Gibbs' unconscious form, his body was covered by Tony's Staff Jacket and sweater, and his head rested on Tony's T-Shirt. This was one time the Special Agent was glad he'd worn layers.

Tony sat, shivering and exhausted on the ground, trying desperately to get a signal, he heard a groan escaping Gibbs lips and looked towards him, "Boss?" He asked, standing up and walking to him. Tony got on his knees next to Gibbs and felt his head.

"You're freezing DiNozzo." Gibbs strained to say the words, just speaking seemed to take a lot of effort.

"Sorry." Tony moved his hand away, and started to cough loudly, pain evident on his face.

"DiNozzo, get out of here..." Gibbs gasped, "That's an order."

"No way Boss, I'm not going anywhere." Tony sat in a more comfortable position besides him, "And anyway, a Marine never leaves a man behind."

"You're...not a Marine DiNozzo, Marines know how to...follow...orders."

"Hey, I follow orders." Tony retorted, "Most of the time."

"Yeah, well follow the order I just gave you, or you're fired." Gibbs sounded intimidating, even when wheezing.

Tony gave a small smile, "I said most of the time."

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><p>Gibbs was sitting in a more upright position, leaning against a tree for support. He and Tony sat in silence, both concentrating on their breathing, trying to take breaths that were as least painful as possible.<p>

Gibbs had been in quite a lot of pain since the crash, which was why he'd been walking so slowly. As soon as he'd felt the impact of the crash he'd been fairly certain that at least one of his ribs were fractured.

"You should have told me you were injured Boss." Tony broke the silence.

Gibbs looked across at where his Agent was sitting, "Why? It's not like you could have done anything."

"I know that, but it would have been nice to have a little heads up." Tony started to cough again, "How long do you think it'll be before they realise we need rescuing?"

"I wouldn't...count on it being any time soon DiNozzo."

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><p>The activities throughout the next hour became quite routine, Tony would get up and walk around every few minutes to check for a signal and then return to check on Gibbs, whilst Gibbs tried to persuade Tony to put more clothes on, knowing his Agent was in danger of becoming Hypothermic. It was no use however, Tony was stubborn and as far as he was concerned, Gibbs, who he was pretty sure was suffering from more than just a fractured rib, needed to keep warm more than he did.<p>

"I think your breathing's getting worse Boss." Gibbs just gave him a look, "But obviously 'you' would know that."

"Yeah." Gibbs wheezed, "Yeah, I would..."

Tony stuck his hands out towards the flames of the fire, "I'm gonna go get some more wood."

Gibbs sighed as he saw his Agent walk off again, shivering and waving his phone in the air. There was very little chance that they would get a signal, Gibbs knew it and he was pretty sure Tony did too, although giving up wasn't something Tony would have learned from observing him so his persistence wasn't surprising.

Tony returned a while later, carrying small branches in his arms, "Well, at least we're not short on wood."

"Or twigs..."

"Hey, I got the fire going didn't I?"

"Yeah...I'm just...sorry I missed it." Gibbs quipped.

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><p>Gibbs eventually managed to persuade Tony to at least put his T-Shirt back on over his vest, although it didn't stop the shivering any and he couldn't help but notice how pale his Agent was looking.<p>

It had been a while since Tony had walked around to try and get a signal or stretch his legs, instead he just sat across from Gibbs, listening to the older mans breathing and noticing the pain on his face as he did so.

"Didn't you say something...about Ziva climbing a tree one time...to get a signal?"

"Actually I think she might have jumped." Tony answered, then noticed the expectant look on Gibbs' face, "Wait, you want me to climb a tree?"

"Well no DiNozzo, not if you'd rather we freeze here"

Tony stood up, a whimper escaping his lips as he did so, walking over to a tall nearby tree he couldn't help but wonder how he was going to manage to climb up the thing when every part of his body ached just getting to it.

Tony started to climb the tree slowly, the effort was exhausting but he managed to climb up about half way until he needed to stop. He took out his phone, begging it to work.

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><p>"Boss I got a signal!" Tony yelled, as he looked down at Gibbs he realised he hadn't climbed up as high as he'd thought, "I'll phone Ducky." He added, quieter than before.<p>

"DiNozzo..."

"I know, get Abby to trace our location." Tony started to call Ducky, his cold hands and shivering making it more difficult than it should have been. Ducky answered it almost immediately and Tony briefly explained what had happened.

"So, how bad is Jethro?" Ducky asked.

"I think he has a punctured lung, his breathing doesn't sound too good."

"Does he look like he's in a lot of pain when he breathes?"

"Yeah, he seems to be getting worse too."

Ducky paused for a moment, "Yes, I think your diagnosis is correct Tony, a Pneumothorax does seem like the most likely cause."

"Well what can I do to help?"

Tony listened as Ducky explained that excess air would be building up in Gibbs' lung, air which they would need to release via a chest tube. Obviously a chest tube wasn't available so they would have come up with another solution.

"So you want me to operate on him?" Tony's voice came out higher than he'd expected, "What am I gonna use?"

"Well, first of all you'll need to find something sharp."

Tony pulled out his knife, "Well that was easy."

"And then you'll need some alcohol."

"Where am I gonna get alcohol out here?"

"Bourbon...glove compartment." Gibbs called up to him.

"Wait, you keep Bourbon in your glove compartment?" Gibbs glared up at Tony, "Right, not important."

"And you'll also need to find something that can be used as a tube, a straw would do."

Tony tied his Cellphone to a tree branch using one of his shoe laces, keeping it switched on so that Abby could get a trace on their location. He started to climb down the tree just as slowly as he had walked up, until he slipped on one of the branches and came crashing down with a scream.

Tony groaned as he pushed himself upwards, "I'm good...I think." He sat up and looked around, "Where's my shoe?"

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><p>Tony's intention to get back to the car as quickly as possible was foiled by his body's refusal to do so. Although they had only walked about half a mile from the car Tony's slow pace was making it seem like a lot longer, he was also stumbling quite a bit which he put down to exhaustion.<p>

Half an hour later he reached the car, the walk hadn't done anything to warm him up, in fact he was shivering considerably more than before. He slid down the ditch to the car below. As Tony was about to climb into the car he caught a glimpse of his face in the rear-view mirror, placing his index finger onto his lower lip he muttered, "Blue really isn't my colour." before ducking his head into the car and sitting down on the rather diagonally placed seat.

He opened the glove compartment and pulled out the quarter full bottle of Bourbon, before routing around for the paper bag he'd had the Cheeseburgers in, "Here we go." He smiled as his hand made contact with the paper bag. His smile grew wider when he opened it and saw what he was looking for, "I'm never gonna question why they put in extra straws again." He mumbled, leaning his head back onto the seat and closing his eyes.

When he opened his eye's again it was darker outside. Tony looked around in confusion, trying to work out where he was.

"Gibbs!" Tony gripped the bottle of Bourbon tightly and grabbed the straw, being careful not to squeeze it too hard. He headed back to Gibbs as quickly as possible, not knowing how long he'd been sitting in the car. He was glad to note that it wasn't too dark outside, the footprints he'd followed to get to the car were still visible.

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><p>"DiNozzo...what...took you...so...long?" Gibbs wheezed, studying his Agent carefully.<p>

Tony noticed that his breathing had gotten worse, "I got the Bourbon, and the straw."

"You're...lips...are blue."

"So are yours." With that Tony put down the Bourbon and the straw and started to climb up the tree. When he got to his Cellphone he was pleased to see that it still had a signal. Ducky answered the phone straight away, and like Gibbs he questioned why it had taken Tony over an hour to get the stuff and call him back.

Tony looked down at Gibbs before answering, "Boss? Boss!" He shouted, "I think he's losing consciousness again Ducky."

Ducky told Tony to put him on answer-phone so he could talk him through the procedure. Tony climbed down from the tree, checking on Gibbs who was unconscious, "Ducky, can you hear me?" Tony shouted, adrenaline was now fuelling his body.

"Loud and clear Tony!" Ducky called back, "Now, shall we get started?"

"What do I do first?"

"First you need to pour alcohol onto your knife."

Tony took out his knife and poured Bourbon onto it, "OK, done that."

"Right, now I need you to make an incision..."

Ducky's voice trailed off and Tony stared at the knife in his hand, suddenly realising what he was about to do. Tony took a deep breath, taking little notice of his own coughs and slapped himself on the back of his head, "This ones on me Boss."

"Tony, are you alright?" Ducky called out, concerned with the lack of response. It would be too dark to do the procedure soon.

"I'm fine Ducky." Tony answered, "So, where do I make the incision?"

Tony made the small incision and pushed the straw through like Ducky had told him.

"Now usually you would have a water sealed bottle to stop the air getting back in, but unfortunately we don't have that."

"Would the Bourbon bottle do?" Tony asked, "I could use the straw packaging to wrap around the top."

"Well, I suppose it's worth a try, just make sure it doesn't pull the straw out of place."

Tony did just that and when he had done everything he could the adrenaline started to escape from his body. His eyelids felt heavy and he was finding it hard to keep them open. He wrapped his arms around his violently shivering body and let his eyelids drop slowly.

He opened his eye's to see flashing lights and people approaching, in a state of confusion his instinct was to fight them off, but his body wouldn't allow it. As everything became more clear he realised they were there to help and watched with strained as they put Gibbs onto a gurney and covered him carefully with blankets. Then he felt blankets being wrapped around himself and felt himself being lifted to his feet

As they helped him towards the Ambulance Gibbs opened his eye's slightly, "Good...work...DiNozzo." He wheezed as they passed each other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Gibbs was sat up in his Hospital bed, the gentle beeps of the machines provided the only sound in the room, that was until Tony walked through the doors.

"Boss, the Nurse said you're medication's due in two hours."

"Make it one!" Gibbs snapped.

"But Boss...Boss...Boss...Boss..."

The word 'Boss' echoed in his mind, Gibbs slowly started to open his eyes, finding himself in his own house, sitting on his own couch with Tony standing in front of him, holding out a glass of water in one hand and some pills in the other.

"It's time for your medication Boss." He said softly, passing the water and pills to Gibbs.

Gibbs wiped a hand down his face groggily and grabbed the water and pills off Tony, who sat down beside him with a heavy sigh.

Gibbs took his medication and looked at Tony who had his head in his palms, "Are you ok?" He got no answer, "DiNozzo?"

Tony let his hands drop, "Yeah." He replied, before feeling Gibbs' unconvinced stare, "I dozed off!" He blurted out guiltily, and turned to face Gibbs, "When I went back to the car, I dozed off, that's why it took me so long." He admitted, "I messed up Boss."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that was what happened." Gibbs noticed the look of surprise on Tony's face, then added, somewhat incredulously, "Wait, so that's what's been bothering you since we were rescued?"

"Oh, you noticed?" Tony replied, "And it doesn't bother you?"

"DiNozzo, you were suffering from Hypothermia and you were exhausted, it's surprising you even made it to the car." Gibbs could see that it wasn't making Tony feel any less guilty, "Hey, do I seem like the kind of person who gives out praise unnecessarily?"

"No. I mean, not that you don't give out a lot of praise Boss, because you do but..." Tony made a high pitched moan as Gibbs' hand connected with the back of his head, "Thank you."

"Yeah, well the praise I gave out when we were in the middle of nowhere wasn't unnecessary either."

A sheepish smile appeared on Tony's face, "I wasn't sure if I'd imagined that."

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><p>After they were rescued, Gibbs stayed in the Hospital for one week, whilst Tony stayed in there for two days. Whilst they were off work Ziva and McGee managed to apprehend the badguys. The murder turned out to be gang related.<p>

Tony stayed at Gibbs' house for the first few day's after Gibbs' was released.

Whilst Gibbs recovered, Tony took over as Team Leader.

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><p><strong>4 Weeks later...<strong>

There was a sense of excitement in the air, which was mostly radiating off Forensic Scientist Abby Scuito as she stared intently at the elevator doors.

Ziva, McGee and Ducky talked calmly, whilst Tony enjoyed his last few minutes as Team Leader.

The elevator dinged and Abby jumped up from the desk she was sitting on and charged towards it, "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" She shouted, hugging him gently.

"Hey Abs." He looked to see the smiling faces of the rest of his team, "Hey." He smiled, happy to be back.

**The End.**

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><p>AN - Thank you for reading, and for all the kind reviews.

Sorry the FanFiction was quite short, I wanted to practice writing in a genre that I'm not really used to.


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